Dental cleaning brush



March 12, 1935. TOUCHSTONE 1,993,763

DENTAL CLEANING BRUSH Filed Oct. 29, 1934 Patented Mar. 12, 1935 PATENT OFFICE-g f DENTAL GLEAN INGBRUSH p Grady Russell Touchstone, Los Angelcs, signer to Touchstone & Sparkman,

Calif., as-

Inc., Los

Angeles, Calif., alco'rporation of California Application October 29, 1934, Serial No. 750,400 g I InCanada November 3,1933

- 5 Claims.

Thisinvention relates to a dentists .brushsuch as used by dentists for cleaning a patients teeth, and the invention isparticularly applicableto a type of brush which embodies inits construction a resilient, substantially conical .body having a relatively thin flexible edge to engage the patients teeth, and which carriesan inner brush formed of bristles or similar material. The conical body is of cup-form so that it is capable of carrying a cleaning substance, for example, soapstone.

In the use of abrush having bristles, such as employed in this brush, the bri'stlesshould be kept out of contact with thepatients gum. The thin. edge of the flexible cup or cone is interposed between the bristles and the gunrline and prevents this. The general object of this invention. is to improve the construction of a dentists brush of this type.

These brushes are provided with acoaxial stem which is mounted in a handle that gives the brush a rapid rotary motion. .One of the objects of this invention is to provide a construction .for

brush which will tend to prevent the cleaning substance from travelling back along this; stem and into the driving'mechanism of the handle.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved means for securing the bristles in shank of the resilient body and for securing shank of the resilient body in a socket member the.

which carries the stem by means ofwhich brush is rotated.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel parts and combination of parts to be described hereinafter, all of which contributeto produce an; efficient dental cleaning brush.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification, while broad scope of the hivention is pointed out in appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a side elevation showing the outer end of a handle such as used by dentists holding and rotating a brush of this character. the body of the handle broken away, and illustrates the brush in side elevation.

This view shows This View is upon an enlarged scale.

Figure 2 is a vertical section taken through the brush with its axis. disposed substantially horizontal and indicating the outline of a tooth and gum, seas to illustrate the way in which brush operates when in use. tion of the stem is shown in elevation and lower portion of the handle that carries the brush Inthis view a por- 2. For this purpose the brush is providedwith a socket member 3 having. an integral stem 4 enables it to be rotated at a high speed.

The socket member 3 is in the form of a cylindrical shell having a bore 5 withinit. that forms a socket. The brush includes a substantially conical, cup-form, resilient. body fijwhich has a relatively thin flexible rim or outer edge 7 which surrounds a substantially conical chamber 8. This chamber 8 enables cleaning substances, such'as soapstone, to be placed in'the brush when it is to be used; The. body 6:.is

formed with a the the

through the shank. I the The brush includes v:anv inner brush ll of bristles; This inner brush is preferably formed from a wisp of bristles,.which'is'bent at its middle point so as to form an enlarged head 12"'.(see' Figure' 3). After bending the wisp into this form, the head 12 is shoved back through the'bore 10 so that the head 12 seatsitself at the inner end ofthe tubular shank 9 and against the'inner endwall '13 of the shank. The shank 9. isthen shovedinto the'bore 5 of the socket member until the inner end 'of the shank seats itself against the disc 14 of the socket member. The outer edge or rim 15 of the socket memberis then formed into a crimped edge, as shown in Figure 2. This securely holds the bristles within the shank and also securely holds the shank within the socket member. The wisp of bristles should have sufficient body to enable it to fit tightly in the bore the the for socket member, the end of the inner brush 11' should be trimmed off substantially in the plane of the edge '7, when the brush is at rest, as illus trated in Figure l. 7

One of the advantages of this construction is that it enables a wisp of relatively large size to be readily introduced into the bore. This can be accomplished by placing the edge of a small instrument, such as a screwdriver, against the the

of the shank. After'securing the shank in the that is removably mounted in the socket in the face of the handle 1. When in place the. stem makes a connection with a driving part which tubular shank .9 and has abore 10 that extends inwardly from the'chamber 3 1 the bight 16 of the head 12, and then forcing the wisp back through the bore 10.

By employing my invention a compound brush composed of an inner brush and a flexible and resilient outer brush can be constructed, which enables the resilient body to be very securely held in the socket member; at the same time the inner brush is also securely held in place and in such a way that the bristles will not readily come out. The resulting brush forms a very compact unit. By reason of the fact that the stem 4 is of considerably smaller diameter than the cylindrical shell of the socket member 5, the shoulder 17 is formed where the outer flat face of the disc 14 intersects the cylindrical face of the socket member. The effect of this is that when the brush is rotating at a high speed, any cleaning substance that works its way along the outer face of the socket member will be thrown off at this shoulder 17. In other Words, it can not creep across the outer flat face of the disc 14 in opposition to the centrifugal force; Hence this shoulder will prevent any cleaning substance working its way along the stem into the driving mechanism within the handle.

The resilient body 6 is preferably composed of rubber.

As no screw thread or similar fastening is employed in fastening the brush, it will be evident that the brush can be rotated in'one direction as well as the other.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described herein, is only one of the many embodiments this invention may take, and I do not wish to be limited in the practice of the invention, nor in the claims, to the particular embodiment set forth. 7

What I claim is:

1. In a dentists rotary brush for cleaning teeth, the combination of a resilient, substantially conical, cup-form body having a tubular coaxial shank, a wisp of bristles forming an inner brush and extending back into said tubular shank, a rigid socket member receiving the end of said tubular shank and having a coaxial stem extending'therefrom to be secured in an operating handle, the said socket member having a cylindrical shell with the outer edge'of the shell crimped inwardly to secure the tubular shank within the socket member.

2. In a dentists rotary brush for cleaning teeth, the combination of a resilient, substantially conical, cup-form body having a tubular, coaxial shank, a Wisp of bristles forming an inner brush and extending back into said tubular shank, a rigid socket member receiving the end of said tubular shank and having a coaxial stem extending therefrom to be secured in an operating handle, the said socket member having a cylindrical shell with the outer edge of the shell crimped inwardly to secure the tubular shank Within the socket member, said socket member having a substantially flat face adjacent said stem and forming a shoulder operating by centrifugal action to throw ofi a cleaning substance used with the brush, and thereby preventing the cleaning substance from moving along the stem into the handle.

3. In a dentists rotary brush for cleaning teeth, the combination of a resilient, substantially conical cup-form body having a tubular shank coaxial therewith and forming a bristle socket, bristles secured in said bristle socket with their ends projecting outwardly so as to lie adjacent the outer rim of said body, a metallic socket member having a socket in the form of a cylindrical shell receiving the inner end of the tubular shank, said socket member having a coaxial stem extending therefrom to secure the brush to an operating handle, said shell having its edge crimped inwardly to secure the bristles in the tubular shank and to secure the tubular shank in the socket member.

4. In a dentists rotary brush for cleaning teeth, the combination of a substantially conical, cup-form body of resilient material with an integral central, tubular shank, a wisp of bristles in which the bristles are folded upon themselves at the end of the wisp so as to form an enlarged .head received in the tubular shank, said bristles extending outwardly therefrom, said conical body having a relatively thin flexible edge adapted to engage the teeth and protect the gum from contact with the bristles, and a rigid socket member having a head receiving the inner end of the shank, with means for securing the shankin the socket member, said socket member having a stem for securing the same in a handle.

5. In a dentists rotary brush for cleaning teeth, the combination of a. substantially conical, resilient, cup-form body to receive a cleaning substance, and having a coaxial shank, an inner brush of bristles coaxial in the body, and secured in the said shank, a metal socket member having a cylindrical shell forming a socket receiving said shank, and having a shoulder with a coaxial stem beyond the shoulder for securing the brush in an operating handle, said shoulder operating by centrifugal action to throw off any cleaning substance that travels back toward said stem.

GRADY RUSSELL TOUCHSTONE. 

